To hear some Israeli officials and well-plugged in consultants tell it, Twitter could be the the new T-72 tank of the Middle East conflict. With violence in abeyance, Israel’s government and much of the wider society believes its enemies, notably Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah, are promoting efforts to undermine its legitimacy in the eyes of Western voters, with a view to bringing about the destruction of the Jewish state that Arab adversaries have failed to achieve on the battlefield over the past 60-odd years. That has prompted intense debate about ‘hasbara’ – literally ‘explaining’ in Hebrew, but mostly used in the sense of propaganda or public diplomacy – in Israeli society and the media. One ad-man turned diplomat, David Admon, called for a “Ministry of Hasbara” in Haaretz this week. It would better coordinate efforts to improve Israel’s image, he argued. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the UN’s Goldstone Report, or at least the “Goldstone effect” (whereby threat of war crimes suits might hobble Israel’s military superiority), one of the biggest threat’s to Israel’s survival, alongside Iran’s nuclear programme and Hamas and Hezbollah rockets. To counter that, the government is looking to improve its public diplomacy. However, some innovative speakers at Israel’s keynote annual national security seminar, the Herzliya Conference, have argued that Israelis’ best propaganda may be themselves, and the many thousands if not millions who have joined a worldwide web citizenry and can promote their views on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Oh, and you can follow the Herzliya Conference, from where I filed this story from the frontline of the propaganda war today, on Facebook and Twitter. Not to mention YouTube… Here is one of conference hosts, Noam Lemelstrich Latar of the School of Communications at IDC Herzliya, explaining a vision of the power of social networking to carry Israel’s message abroad: “We have to identify all the social networks that can help us, and we have to learn how to use them.”

PICTURE: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters

HERZLIYA, Israel, Feb 2 (Reuters) – For Israelis, debates at the United Nations over the Goldstone report and its allegations of war crimes in Gaza go far beyond dry legal argument — their government sees it as a battle for the nation’s very survival.

A keynote national security conference this week made clear Israel is considering arming itself with a battery of weapons for a propaganda war against Palestinians and their supporters, who many Israelis fear want to turn the Jewish state into an international pariah reminiscent of apartheid South Africa.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month spoke of a “Goldstone effect” — action by international courts that might crimp Israel’s military superiority — and ranked it alongside Iran’s nuclear programme and the rocket arsenals of Palestinian and Lebanese guerrillas among three main threats facing Israel.

“People are questioning whether we should exist,” Eyal Arad, a marketing guru and former government adviser, told the annual Herzliya Conference. “We’re … becoming the South Africa of the 21st century. What we need is a global political campaign.”

HERZLIYA, Israel, Feb 2 (Reuters) – For Israelis, debates at the United Nations over the Goldstone report and its allegations of war crimes in Gaza go far beyond dry legal argument — their government sees it as a battle for the nation’s very survival. A keynote national security conference this week made clear Israel is considering arming itself with a battery of weapons for a propaganda war against Palestinians and their supporters, who many Israelis fear want to turn the Jewish state into an international pariah reminiscent of apartheid South Africa. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month spoke of a "Goldstone effect" — action by international courts that might crimp Israel’s military superiority — and ranked it alongside Iran’s nuclear programme and the rocket arsenals of Palestinian and Lebanese guerrillas among three main threats facing Israel. "People are questioning whether we should exist," Eyal Arad, a marketing guru and former government adviser, told the annual Herzliya Conference. "We’re … becoming the South Africa of the 21st century. What we need is a global political campaign." Serving officials assured audiences in seminars entitled "Winning the Battle of the Narrative" that work was in hand to win hearts and minds abroad. Indeed, one revealed the previous government briefed PR advisers on a Gaza war three months before the December 2008 offensive that left 1,400 Palestinians dead. Israel refused to cooperate with judge Richard Goldstone, the U.N. investigator who faced accusations of anti-Semitism from fellow Jews for saying Israeli troops may have committed war crimes. But under threat of referral to an international court, it has published measures it took against some soldiers [ID:LDE6100UQ]. Domestic critics say it will take concrete new policies toward Palestinians, not PR, to ease international criticism of Israel. That is a view naturally shared by Palestinians. But there was a consensus in the Herzliya seminars, a high point of the Israeli political and diplomatic calendar, that better explanation of existing policies and of the threats Israel faces could ease diplomatic pressure coming from abroad. One Israeli ambassador said the crucial risk was that European governments would limit support for Israel if opinion among their own voters swung further against the Jewish state. REBRANDING, INTERNATIONAL AID Proposals aired at Herzliya for improving Israel’s image abroad ranged from increasing spending sharply on its embassies through grass-roots diplomacy in the form of citizens engaged in Internet social networking to full-scale "rebranding". Former diplomat and advertising man David Admon, writing in the leftish Haaretz newspaper, demanded a "Ministry of Hasbara" to coordinate Israel’s message — hasbara, Hebrew for explaining — has long been a common term for Israeli public diplomacy. Like Netanyahu, Admon highlighted international media cover of an army hospital sent to Haiti’s earthquake zone last month, saying it had helped Israel show a positive face to the world. Many speakers at Herzliya saw a campaign by Palestinians and their supporters, notably Iran, to "delegitimise" Israel and to undermine support from Western powers by questioning its right to exist, as an alternative to attempts to defeat it by force. "Their aim is to turn us into a pariah state," consultant Gidi Grinstein, who advises the government, told the conference. BRITISH EXAMPLE Many Israelis see an unholy alliance of radical Islam, traditional European Christian anti-Semitism and secular liberal support for Palestinians as putting them in grave jeopardy. Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to London, saw a risk that "demonisation" of Israel among a "liberal left" establishment in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, notably in the media and academia, could push hitherto supportive European governments into opposition to Israel in order to satisfy public opinion. Speaking of a gap between leaders and voters over Israel, Prosor said: "If that gap closes, it will close against us." Britain, Israeli advocates say, plays a special role as home to major international media, a large Muslim minority and many foreign students. The British government, Prosor said, had shown growing signs it was taking heed of anti-Israel public opinion. A legal move to have Tzipi Livni, foreign minister during the Gaza war, arrested on a visit to London last year soured relations. Prosor said he was concerned Britain would set an example for anti-Israel campaigns on foreign campuses and elsewhere, notably the United States, Israel’s powerful ally. At a recent debate in Jerusalem, London’s ambassador Tom Phillips played down the extent of British hostility to Israel but acknowledged a "narrative shift" — that early support for "plucky little Israel" had faded after 1967 as images of "the bully occupier" followed its conquest of the West Bank and Gaza. But better PR was not a full answer, he said, urging Israel to strike a peace deal to give the Palestinians a state: "It is ducking the issue," Phillips said, "If Israel thinks it can get off this issue if this problem of the occupation persists." Palestinians, too, argue Israel’s image problem lies not in how its message is conveyed but in its policies toward them. One official, who advises President Mahmoud Abbas on media affairs but is not authorised to speak publicly, cited civilian deaths in Gaza, West Bank settlements and other grievances. "It’s not that Palestinians are winning some sort of PR war," he told Reuters. "The whole thing is about trying to cover up what’s blindingly obvious to anyone who is on the ground." (Editing by Samia Nakhoul) (For blogs and links on Israeli politics and other Israeli and Palestinian news, go to blogs.reuters.com/axismundi)

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mocked the Palestinian leadership on Wednesday for rejecting U.S. calls for peace negotiations, as President Barack Obama’s envoy prepared for new talks.

Addressing foreign media, Netanyahu attacked President Mahmoud Abbas for refusing to end a year-old suspension of talks until Israel stops building settlements. “The Palestinians have climbed up a tree,” Netanyahu said. “And they like it up there.

“People bring ladders to them. We bring ladders to them. The higher the ladder, the higher they climb.”

Diplomats have used such images in recent months to describe efforts by Obama’s envoy George Mitchell and others to promote some face-saving way for Abbas to retreat from a condition he has set.

JERUSALEM, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mocked the Palestinian leadership on Wednesday for rejecting U.S. calls for peace negotiations, as President Barack Obama’s envoy prepared for new talks. Addressing foreign media, Netanyahu attacked President Mahmoud Abbas for refusing to end a year-old suspension of talks until Israel stops building settlements. "The Palestinians have climbed up a tree," Netanyahu said. "And they like it up there. "People bring ladders to them. We bring ladders to them. The higher the ladder, the higher they climb." Diplomats have used such images in recent months to describe efforts by Obama’s envoy George Mitchell and others to promote some face-saving way for Abbas to retreat from a condition he has set. Abbas has said he will resume negotiations on establishing a Palestinian state only after Netanyahu stops all Jewish building in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. With Mitchell holding his first talks this year with the two sides on Thursday and Friday, Netanyahu made clear what he hoped the mediators would do. "The Palestinians are piling demand upon demand upon demand," said Netanyahu. "They should be told fair and square … ‘Start negotiating for peace’ … Let’s get on with it. "I’m prepared for peace. Are the Palestinians ready for peace?" asked Netanyahu, noting his coalition’s moves to promote economic growth in the West Bank by lifting road blocks and its partial restraint on expanding settlements. U.S. SHIFT? U.S.-Israeli relations had once been marked by unwonted coolness under Netanyahu’s premiership and the Obama presidency. But Western diplomats said on Wednesday they detected signs that Washington was increasingly frustrated with Abbas. One Western diplomat in the region, speaking privately, said that Abbas "as the weaker partner" was now the focus of U.S. efforts to stir the peace process back to life. "It’s a dramatic shift from the way it started with Obama year ago," he said. Mitchell raised Israeli hackles last week with remarks about curbing U.S. financial help for the Jewish state if peace efforts got bogged down. But the diplomat spoke of an "implicit threat" of cuts in U.S. aid to the West Bank if Abbas held out. Signs of a shifting balance of power were clear in September when Obama softened his opposition to Israeli settlement policy and persuaded Abbas to meet him, with Netanyahu, in New York. One possible way out of the impasse is that Mitchell might persuade the Palestinians to negotiate by framing the talks in such a way as to set an "endgame", with the goal being a deal on a Palestinian state within a couple of years. Abbas was quoted as saying last weekend that if Netanyahu did not impose a full settlement freeze, another option was for Washington to define the parameters of a deal. Israel says such parameters may amount to prejudging the outcome of negotiations. An Abbas aide, Nabil Abu Rdainah, made clear on Wednesday that Abbas still wanted more from Israel, even if Mitchell proposed some framework for talks that met Palestinian demands. "American guarantees are not enough," Abu Rdainah told Reuters. "What we are in need of is an Israeli commitment to implement the road map, which means a Palestinian state on the lines occupied in 1967 including East Jerusalem as its capital. "This is the vital question and this is what the Americans should do in the coming days: get an answer from the Israelis." Some people in Israel have speculated lately that Netanyahu could stage a surprise shift in tack, pushing for a peace deal in defiance of his own allies on the right and possibly seeking new, centrist partners. But the prime minister also made clear on Wednesday the limits he saw on Palestinian sovereignty. The threat to Israel from Iranian-backed groups such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon meant that any Palestinian state would be "demilitarised", he said. Israel would want military oversight around the borders of such a state. (Additional reporting by Douglas Hamilton and Tom Perry)

QASR AL-YAHUD, West Bank (Reuters) – It took Andrei Borisovich a lifetime to follow in the footsteps of his forebears and make the pilgrimage from Russia to the Holy Land.

On Monday, the St. Petersburg pensioner reached his goal, amid throngs of Orthodox faithful on the muddy banks of the Jordan to mark Epiphany — for eastern Christians the feast of Jesus’s baptism and the traditional high point of pilgrimages from Russia that are now enjoying a post-Communist revival.

“I wanted to come for so long,” said the 73-year-old, beaming despite the unusually rain-laden skies over the desert dunes as he recounted how one of his forebears — he can’t quite recall how many “greats” to put before “grandfather” — walked for seven months from Russia to this spot in the 19th century.

“He was an industrialist, at Perm in the Urals. His journey to the Holy Land changed his life. When he returned home he founded schools, an orphanage,” Andrei Borisovich said proudly.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Aides to Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as “lies and slander” Sunday an employment lawsuit filed by a former maid against the Israeli prime minister’s wife.

They said local media coverage, which recalled controversies over domestic staff during Netanyahu’s first term in office in the 1990s, amounted to a smear campaign. Analysts saw little immediate political impact from furor, however.

A Tel Aviv labor court confirmed that a woman who had worked for Sara Netanyahu filed suit last week against the child psychologist and former El Al flight attendant who is the prime minister’s third wife and mother of his two teenage sons.

Mass-selling newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth had splashed the story of the case Friday. Rival Maariv followed up Sunday with a broadside by its leading commentator, declaring the prime minister unfit to lead the nation due to his wife’s behavior.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a 10-month freeze on some building in West Bank settlements on Wednesday, pleasing the United States but Palestinians said it was not enough to restart peace talks.

Allies of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is under pressure from U.S. President Barack Obama to drop a demand that an 11-month-old suspension of negotiations should end only if Israel stops construction on land it occupied in 1967, said Netanyahu’s plan to keep building around Jerusalem was unacceptable.

The decision, announced personally by Netanyahu on prime-time television and hailed by even his left-wing Israeli critics as “historic,” may put new pressure on Abbas to sit down with the Israeli leader after strong endorsement of the measure from the Obama administration in Washington.

“Israel today has taken a far-reaching step toward peace,” Netanyahu said, repeating in English his brief speech to local viewers for the benefit of an international audience.

JERUSALEM, Nov 3 (Reuters) – A self-confessed killer dubbed "The Jewish Terrorist" has shown how far settlers may go to stop Israel trading land for peace with Palestinians and the risks even lone attackers can pose to stability in a tinderbox region. So concluded many Israelis as media devoted much of their newsprint and airtime this week to the arrest of Yaakov "Jack" Tytell, an American immigrant to a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank. Police said he had admitted killing two Arabs a decade ago and more recent attacks on Israeli leftists. Analysts were quick to compare him to the right-wing Jew, angry at peace deals with the Palestinians, who assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin 14 years ago this week. The jailed killer Yigal Amir remains a hero to thousands on the Israeli right. Many on the left believe hopes of peace died with Rabin. Newspapers, most of which devoted numerous pages to Tytell, also recalled Baruch Goldstein, the settler physician from New York who shot nearly 200 Arab worshippers at a Hebron mosque in 1995, killing 29 of them — an act swiftly followed by Palestinian suicide bombings and other attacks in Israel. Former Israeli secret service agents warned of a "Jewish Underground", dormant and ready, out in the wilder edges of the West Bank hilltops, that has the weaponry to make good on hardliners’ threats to resist with violence any move by Israel’s government to end its 41 years of military occupation, or even to evict settlers from some of their fringe "outposts". And Menachem Landow, a former head of the Shin Bet security service’s Jewish Division which combatted underground settler cells behind bombings in the 1980s, said even loners threatened national security, either by posing a risk to leaders like Rabin or by provoking Arab attacks, like Goldstein and others. "The Shin Bet gets involved the moment the threat is to national security," Landow said. "The priority is to prevent murders, but clearly there is a secondary drive — to prevent escalation … It can trigger a revolution." SETTLERS’ DEFENCE Leaders of the half-million settlers, who are at the heart of arguments among Israel, the Palestinians and Washington that have held up peace talks, distanced themselves from Tytell, a 37-year-old father-of-four. His lawyer was quoted saying he was not responsible for actions he saw as a "mission from God". Police were forced to explain why it took them 12 years to find the alleged killer of a Palestinian shepherd and of an Arab Jerusalem taxi driver but only months to arrest the same man after he wounded an Israeli professor with a pipe bomb — the hunt was complicated because Tytell was a loner, police said. But a former head of the Shin Bet, whose agents helped police arrest Tytell last month, said that while Tytell may have acted alone he was far from unique among settlers: "This is the soil where this grows," Ami Ayalon said. Several unsolved murders of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have led Shin Bet officers to assume the existence of Jewish killers, security sources say. But they are unsure how far they are connected or politically driven. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, elected this year, includes a foreign minister who is himself a settler and another senior cabinet member lately caught on camera calling Israel’s main anti-settlement group a "virus". Yet even Netanyahu has faced virulent criticism from some settlers, who account for about 8 percent of Israeli Jews, for even modest gestures of "restraint" on settlement expansion he has offered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas — gestures that U.S. President Barack Obama says do not go far enough. Netanyahu, however, highlights the strength of opinion among settlers as a limit on what concessions he can offer — even when many among the majority of Israelis who do not live on occupied land express little sympathy for hardline colonists. Aware of the potential backlash, settler leader Danny Dayan said: "Any person of conscience … must rise up in indignation against such acts — and against any despicable attempt to use them to gain political capital by blaming an entire community." Aside from the 1990s murders of Arabs committed when he was a tourist, Tytell is also accused of injuring a leading Israeli left-winger, Zeev Sternhell, an outspoken critic of settlers last year by planting a pipe bomb at his Jerusalem home. (Additional reporting by Dan Williams; Editing by Dominic Evans)

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Hillary Clinton turned U.S. pressure on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday when she endorsed Israel’s view that its expansion of settlements on occupied land should not be a bar to resuming peace talks.

On a flying one-day visit across the Middle East, President Barack Obama’s secretary of state appeared to complete what is at least a shift in emphasis from the new U.S. administration, which in its first months in office this year strongly endorsed Palestinian demands that all Jewish settlement must be halted.

Obama himself, after persuading Abbas in September to meet new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, called only for “restraint” in settlement, not the “freeze” he initially spoke of. On Saturday in Jerusalem, Clinton agreed with Netanyahu that it was unprecedented for Abbas to shun talks due to settlements.

A spokesman for Abbas, who faces intense domestic pressure from Hamas Islamists who say he is selling out, insisted that he would not resume suspended negotiations as long as Israel went on building in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, where half a million Jews already live alongside some 3 million Arabs.